Eulogy: Harry Caray

Sometime in the 1960s Harry Caray found himself in Memphis, Tenn. The phone rang in his hotel room. "Harry," the voice said, "this is Elvis Presley. I grew up in Mississippi listening to you call the Cardinal games on KMOX. I think you're the greatest. I'm sending a car over to bring you to Graceland." There, by Caray's account, the two sat till the early-morning hours, eating barbecue, drinking Budweiser and talking baseball.

Entertainers loved Harry Caray. He counted many, Sinatra and Elvis included, as friends. And why not? Caray himself was a kind of performance artist, working from a broadcast...